In my mixture of jobs a lot of you know that I work in a local"gallery" a couple of days a week....In the 2 days that I am there, I am lucky enough to spend a little bit of the day reading! Last year I used to hide my book away when customers came into the shop but this year I discovered a whole new conversation opening up from a book sitting on the counter......I am off to trawl the shelves for something new to read having just finished 'The book thief' by Markus Zusak......a slow start but a truly amazing book.....very clever, thought provoking and extremely moving......I highly recommend it!Who is reading what just now

Good post Martin! Can I make a plea that folk also make a comment on whether or not you would recommend the book you're reading or have read? I absolutely LOVED The Book Thief, it was a wonderful read. There's another thread on here about The Kite Runner, a really powerful book that's to be recommended. I am halfway through One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich which I thought I would read again after Solzhenitsyn died. It's compelling and quite an easy read but really shows the horror of the camps in Siberia.

Blow away the dreams that tear you apartBlow away the dreams that break your heartBlow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

Martin Beyond Nabb End is a wonderfull story and as gripping as The Road To Nabb End i would recommend them to anyone who likes biographies about Britain in the early part of the 20th century.

I have just finished This Charming Man by Marian Keys. Like all her books it was entertaining on the surface but underneath it tackles modern day problems such as drugs, domestic violence and death. I have never found another author who can make me laugh and cry in the same chapter. Some dismiss her as a chick lit writer but this does not do her justice at all.

I`ve just finished an Andy McNab book, my first ever, it was passed on to me, called Deep Black. I don`t usually go in for books like this, but I really enjoyed it and can recommend it, although it is a few years now since it was first published. I`ve now started a bit of lighter reading, a Sue Grafton omnibus, M is for Malice and N is for Noose. I`m gradually working my way through the alphabet with her books, I quite like her main character, Kinsey Millhone.

Ags - very interesting choice! My 12 year old daughter is a voracious reader - devours books at an unbelievable rate, and has well developed literary tastes (thank goodness!). Anyway, The Book Thief is her all-time-favourite book. She has re-read it many times, and has often recommended it to me... and I have been resisting! Your words, and reviews on the amazon site that I have now scanned, have now persuaded me to give it a go now. It is one of these cross-over children-to-adult books – and I like that idea.

My most recent reading has been the Alexander McCall Smith books, in the ‘Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ series. I loved the keen sense of place, slow pace, and evident humanity in them. I started reading the books long before they became as commercially successful as they now are, and was drawn to the alternative view of African countries they portray - one that I have witnessed - and one that gets too little exposure. Too often we are presented only with the 'starving Africans' image in the media, lumping the whole continent together, and presenting it as one massive impoverished basket-case. And implying that what happens in one country probably happens in every other. While there are undoubted problems, and Zimbabwe is obviously in desperate straits, it is great to find literature that holds up a mirror to the some of the nuances and characteristics of one small corner of that vast continent.

Excellent....this could be a good wee thread! Thanks for the comment Govangirl....I know you have book group too so thought this might be an interesting one....! and good idea about likes and dislikes! I love to people watch and see what they are reading! I had also said I would let you know what I thought of The Book Thief.....and OMG!! It was a slow starter but I was just in bits when I finished it on Friday, infact I can't bring myself to pick up anything else yet! A couple of the girls hadn't finished the book but hopefully we have persuaded them to persevere! Mary G you have to read it! I was quite surprised to realise after I started reading that it was a childrens book! Your daughter has fab taste! My wee one will be 10 this week and I just can't see her reading something like that at 12...who knows though I havent read any Marian Keyes recently though I quite enjoyed her early stuff many moons ago! Great description Dr Sanchez and as for Horse and Ninja Just what I would expect